FLIRT

People come together. Eyes meet. Then they wander. They test here, they test there. The only thing that is clear is that nothing is clear yet. What counts is what is being implicitly communicated. Wera Mahne and her team of deaf and hearing performers started to research on the subject of flirting online and then developed a piece about it: what do we say when we’re not saying anything? Sign language and spoken words intertwine in FLIRT into an exploration of body language, nuances, intermediary movements and a tilt of the head. It is about making the first move and about equality.Do you understand something that I don’t?

Wera Mahne is an independent theater director. She studied Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice in Hildesheim, as well as at the School of Music and Performing Arts Porto (ESMAE). She has worked e.g. at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf and the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin and regularly directs artistic workshops on current issues of politics and society. In 2015, she received a NRW scholarship from the FFT Düsseldorf and in 2016 was awarded the City of Düsseldorf’s Award for the Advancement of the Performing Arts.

The team of FLIRT has been dealing since 2015 with ways of using spoken language and sign language on stage together – equally and eye to eye. Together, they have developed their own specific artistic approach. Their last production “Wach?” was invited to westwind 2016 and won the Children’s Jury Award there after premiering at FFT Düsseldorf. FLIRT is a continuation and further exploration of this work.